


tell me all of the things (that make you feel at ease)

by NayaKatic



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, also I love Eliza Danvers okay, this is from Eliza's pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 13:30:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8802757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NayaKatic/pseuds/NayaKatic
Summary: "Does it have anything to do with Maggie?" Eliza asks, carefully, "You mention her a lot."Alex calls her mom at least once a week.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is the first thing I've written in a while and my first time writing for sanvers but I got this idea the other night and I couldn't let it go so here it is!
> 
> Title from the song Ease by Troye Sivan
> 
> Huge thanks to Lenna (go read her stuff she's amazing) and my number one potato friend, Fiona.
> 
> Hope you enjoy, xo

Alex calls her mom at least once a week.

It hasn't always been this way. For the longest time, Alex dreaded calling her mother because she knew she would always find something not quite right about her life and would lecture her about it. She avoided her phone calls, made up excuses so the conversation wouldn't last long and told her mother she was just busy.

But then, Kara became Supergirl and Alex's work with the DEO wasn't so secret anymore. Telling her mother the truth actually felt liberating.

So now they talk once a week, catch up and tell each other what's been happening in their lives. Eliza tells her about Midvale, about the night sky and the stars, because she knows Alex misses them the most. She tells her about her work sometimes and they bounce ideas off of each other.  It feels nice. Alex has never felt as close to her mom as she has in the past year and she starts looking forward to their weekly calls.

Alex never says much, though. Not about herself, at least. She talks about Kara a lot, about her training, her small injuries, her progress, her exploits. She's proud of her little sister, Eliza can hear as much by the sound of Alex's voice, but there's something hiding behind that pride that Eliza can't grasp. She tells her about her work at the DEO sometimes, not a lot because most of it is classified. She talks about J'onn, about Winn, talks about everyone but herself. It's like she thinks everyone's accomplishments are worth sharing, but not her own.

"What about you sweetie?"

And no matter how many times she asks, Eliza always gets the same answer.

"Same old, mom."

She can almost see Alex shrugging in that self-deprecating way of hers. Eliza sighs every time because their relationship might be better than it used to be, but sometimes she still feels like there's a giant gap between them.

  
  


 

Their calls aren't scheduled.

Most of the time, Alex is the one who calls her in the evening, when she gets bored of doing paperwork and misses home. Sometimes, Eliza is the one to call, hoping that the call doesn't go straight to voicemail, because Alex's work schedule is unpredictable.

She calls right after she sees the news about the president being attacked. Supergirl was there, and that means Alex must have been close by, and Eliza needs to know that both her daughters are okay. So she calls.

She calls Alex and it goes straight to voicemail.

She calls Kara and the same thing happens.

She tries to focus back on her work, reasoning that if something had happened she'd know by now. She tries, but she fails.

She worries. That's what mothers do.

She's looking through a microscope, a virus of some kind that she suspects might be of alien origin, when she feels her phone buzz in the pocket of her lab coat. She immediately reaches for it and sighs in relief when she sees the picture of a smiling Alex looking up at her from the screen.

"Alex!"

She's calling from her car, Eliza can tell from the way her voice echoes on the other side.

"Hey, mom. Just saw you tried to call. Is everything okay?"

"I should be the one asking you that," she doesn't really get an answer. Alex just huffs and puffs a little, sounds distracted and Eliza frowns, "Alex, are you okay?"

"Yes, I just-" Eliza hears Alex take a deep breath, and let out a humorless chuckle, "This _woman_ , a detective, showed up at my crime scene like she owned the damn place. I don't know who she thinks she is, talking to me about jurisdiction and bragging about her knowledge on alien species, pffft," Alex is clearly on a roll and Eliza can't do anything but listen, "As if I don't know about that stuff."

There are a few minutes of silence then. It's the time it takes for Eliza to decide that Alex is fine, or at least, well enough to be ranting about somebody meddling with her work.

She hears Alex sigh again and this time, when she talks, she sounds apologetic, "I'm sorry, this is just not how the day was supposed to go and it's- it doesn't matter. How are you?"

"I'm good. I just wanted to check up on you. I saw the news and got worried."

"Oh," Alex sounds surprised for some reason, like this was the first time her mother called to check up on her.

It wasn't.

"Yeah, no, Kara is fine," She pauses and, "I'm fine too."

Eliza smiles and feels some tension leave her shoulders, "Except for that pesky detective, right?"

She hears Alex groan and can't help but laugh at her daughter's antics. After a while, Alex lets out a quiet laugh. Eliza hears her stop the car and take off her seatbelt before she hears her voice again.

"I'm at the DEO but I'll call you tonight?"

"Yes, okay. Be careful, alright? Say hi to Kara. I love you."

"Love you too, mom. Bye."

They hang up and Eliza goes back to work, with her worries settled and her mind focused again on the task at hand.

  
  


 

Tonight turns into three nights later because catching the alien responsible for the attempted assassination of the president is more important than catching up with your mom. So Eliza waits, keeping up with National City news.

She's cooking dinner, three days after the first attack when her phone starts ringing. It's Alex and she answers on the second ring.

"Hello, sweetheart."

"Hey mom."

"How have you been?"

"Good. We got the alien."

Eliza knows that, she's read the news. What she's really asking is how Alex is feeling. Her daughter may be strong, but that doesn't mean she doesn't break, Eliza knows this all too well. She's seen her daughter carry the weight of the world on her shoulders ever since they took Kara in. And yes, as her mom, she was partially responsible for some of the pressure Alex felt, but Eliza can't imagine what it feels like to have the life of the president resting on yours and your team's shoulders.

Alex starts talking about Kara then, goes on about the movie they watched during the last Sisters' Night and, inevitably, Eliza remembers childhood stories when Kara was still curious about this new world she was living in and Alex was starting to rebel. They both laugh, Alex out of embarrassment, and Eliza because she loves the sound of her daughter's happiness.

They get quiet after thirty minutes of talking and Eliza can feel the end of the phone call coming. This silence feels different, though, like Alex wants to say something but doesn't know how. So Eliza waits a little longer than she usually does, but when Alex still says nothing, she bids her good night.

If it’s important, Alex will tell her, eventually. She just needs to be ready.

  
  


 

Kara joins in on their next call.

Alex calls as Eliza is curling up on her sofa with a scientific journal. She doesn't mind the interruption, and gladly puts the journal down to answer her phone. She's pleasantly surprised when she hears both her daughters' voices.

Eliza enjoys these calls the most. She loves talking to her daughters separately, but hearing them bicker, hearing them banter and talk over each other, makes her heart soar with pride. They're about to start Sisters' Night, is what they tell her, and they thought they could call her together because neither had spoken to Eliza in a little over a week.

So they talk. Alex asks a million questions about her mom's new lab project while Kara is making weird noises in the background, clearly bored by all the scientific stuff. Then it's Kara's turn to talk about being a reporter and how happy she is with her promotion (" _even if Snapper is a butthead,"_ apparently)

When the conversation turns to Alex, she doesn't say much. Until Kara puts her two cents in.

"Alex has a new friend," And oh, that's definitely something that catches her attention. Eliza loves her daughter but she's not very social, never has been, and she knows Alex doesn't have many friends besides her sister and a couple of other people.

"We're not friends, we're partners," she hears Alex tell her sister and she thinks she hears someone being slapped by a pillow. Kara, probably, "We've worked on a couple of cases together. She's nice."

"Who is she?" Eliza can't help but ask because, well. She's curious.

"Oh! Uh, remember the annoying detective from a couple of weeks ago?" Eliza nods, until she remembers that Alex can’t see her, and hums in agreement, "Yes, well, that was detective Maggie Sawyer."

Eliza lets out a surprised laugh because she remembers Alex ranting about the woman so clearly, and now they're friends? She tells her as much, hears Kara giggle and can imagine Alex rolling her eyes at them.

"Yes, well, she proved to be useful so, yeah. I guess we're… I guess we're friends."

There's an uncertainty in Alex's voice that Eliza doesn't miss, but she doesn't dwell on it. They move on, Alex changes subject and soon they're saying goodbye with promises of calling each other soon.

 

 

 

Eliza is on her lunch break when she decides to call Alex. She's eating by herself, most of her colleagues having already eaten while she had decided to stay in her office and catch up on some of her paperwork. She knows Alex is like her, gets easily swept up in her work, and Eliza figures that reminding her daughter to eat couldn't be a bad thing.

Alex doesn't answer right away, though, and Eliza almost expects to get her voicemail when Alex picks up. No real words escape her mouth, she groans more than anything, and Eliza frowns and worries only just slightly.

"Alex? Is this a bad time?"

She hears some shuffling on the other side, another groan and muttered words Eliza can't make sense of. Alex's voice is rough and Eliza soon realizes she's woken her daughter up. She instantly feels guilty. Alex doesn't get nearly enough sleep.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I thought you'd be at work. I’ll let you get back to sleep and I’ll call later."

"Hey, no," Alex clears her throat, trying to get rid of the exhaustion in her voice, "T's okay, I'm awake. How are you?"

Eliza smiles as she imagines Alex sitting on her bed, sleepily rubbing at her eyes, trying to make sense of the world around her.

"I'm good. I didn't know today was your day off."

There’s some more shuffling as she hears Alex moving through her apartment, from her bedroom to her kitchen, she imagines.

"It wasn't supposed to be, but Maggie and I only closed our case early this morning and well, J'onn thought I deserved the day off."

Eliza's fork stops halfway to her mouth when she hears her daughter mention Maggie. She's not surprised, though. In the few weeks Alex has known the woman, she's been mentioning her more and more during their phone calls. It started with small stories about Maggie's work as a detective (" _She has all these ties with the alien community. It's really useful._ "), moved on to how well they worked together (" _She's just really smart and intuitive, I don't have to tell her what I'm thinking, she just knows._ "), and lately those stories had been laced with little fun facts about Maggie, as the two had been spending more time together outside of work.

Eliza doesn't remember a time when Alex talked about anything or anyone besides Kara and the DEO. However, now, her stories about Supergirl get interrupted by Alex remembering something that Maggie did or said, bringing out a light chuckle from Alex and a small, curious smile to Eliza's lips.

"Oh, Maggie? How is she?"

The sound of Alex opening and closing her cupboard and the scratch of ceramic on her counter accompanies the non-committal noise that escapes her mouth.

"She's… I don't know," Eliza frowns, takes a bite of her chicken salad and waits for Alex to find her words, "She got dumped by her girlfriend."

Eliza swallows her food slowly and nods, "I'm sorry to hear that."

And she really is sorry. She doesn't know this Maggie person but remembers Alex saying something about a girlfriend around a week ago. She had mentioned it in passing, talking about the tall and pretty blonde Maggie had kissed.

(Eliza hadn't been expecting the call, having texted Alex earlier to ask her if she was free to chat for a bit. She said she had plans, yet, barely an hour later she had called.

"I thought you had plans."

"Yeah, so did I but Maggie had a date so I'm free tonight."

And if her voice sounded a little dejected when she mentioned _how pretty_ Maggie's girlfriend was, Eliza didn't question it.)

So, yes, Eliza is really sorry. If there's one thing she remembers is that breakups are never easy.

"Yeah, she looked sad," Alex's voice is somewhat muffled by her coffee maker, "I mean obviously, but, I don't know, I just wish I could help her, you know?"

Eliza hums, sipping her water. She's about to ask Alex how she's been doing when Alex interrupts her with a laugh, "She's such a sore loser, mom, you wouldn't imagine. We played pool this morning after we closed the case, and she didn't even win once," she stops talking to take a sip of her coffee, "And I mean, I tried to let her win. I went so easy on her and she still lost all of her money."

Eliza pauses at that because she's never met anyone more competitive than her Alexandra, and the fact that she considered letting Maggie win a game… Well, she can't quite believe it. She still laughs, jokingly scolds her daughter about stealing money from innocent girls to which Alex replies with "Oh, please, Maggie is far from innocent."

The call doesn't last long after that, Eliza has to get back to work and Alex has her own life to take care of. So they say goodbye, and Alex is the first one to hang up while Eliza keeps her phone pressed to her ear, deep in thought.

There's something changing. She doesn't really know what it is, but she can feel a shift, something in Alex's voice isn't as careful as it used to be. It's like she's suddenly talking in colors and there's a soft alarm going off in Eliza's head but she can't quite put her finger on why that is.

 

 

 

Something changes.

Eliza's in bed, a warm cup of tea on her nightstand, and an album full of family pictures resting on her thighs. She had been feeling nostalgic for some reason and she had found herself reaching for the family albums before she could think about it.

She's been staring at a picture of a teenage Alex, long dark hair along with dark makeup, laughing with a slightly younger Kara, covered in mud. She remembers that day, the family picnic they had decided to go on because they didn't spend as much time together as they used to. Alex was going through a rebellious phase where everything her parents did or said felt like a betrayal. She was barely home anymore, or when she was, she closed herself off to the world by listening to that horrific punk music loudly in her room.

She had grumbled and whined about the _stupid picnic_ while Kara had been jumping up and down in excitement, helping Eliza pack all the food while Jeremiah tried talking Alex out of her grumpy mood. It hadn't worked, Alex kept rolling her eyes at everything so much that Eliza feared she'd get her eyes stuck. In the end, all it had taken for Alex to enjoy the day was for Kara to fall down in a puddle of mud. She remembered the way Alex had rushed to her sister's side, worried at first, until she couldn't hide her huge grin anymore. It wasn't malicious, Kara and Alex laughed together so much that, in the end, the dark makeup on Alex's eyes had been ruined.

Her phone rings and brings her out of her thoughts. She's pleasantly surprised when she sees it's Alex, doesn't let it ring for too long before she answers.

Alex's voice is hoarse, no matter how many times she clears her throat. There's a vulnerability there that Eliza hasn't heard since Thanksgiving last year. She knows something's wrong, can hear it in the way Alex sniffles every few seconds and how she doesn't say anything and just asks, "How's Midvale?"

Eliza knows what that means. She smiles at the younger Alex on the picture and starts talking. She tells Alex about the little gardening she's been doing and the flowers she's planted next to the house. She talks about the stars she can see through the windows, talks about how quiet the house is. She talks for almost an hour about everything that comes to her mind, about everything that will remind Alex of home and not make her feel so alone.

Asking about Midvale is Alex's way of saying she's lonely.

But after an hour of Alex silently humming and barely saying any words, Eliza needs to ask, "Alexandra, sweetie, what's wrong?"

Alex lets out a watery laugh because she was probably expecting Eliza to not ask any questions, or at least hoping she wouldn't. So she laughs and then quiets herself with another sniff, "Nothing's wrong, it's just… I've had a long week."

That's not it, Eliza knows, but she also knows that her daughter won't tell her anything if she's not ready.

"Is everyone okay? How's Maggie?"

She doesn't know why she asks. Maybe it's because Alex hasn't mentioned her yet, even after an hour on the phone, and that has to be some kind of record. She's glad she asks though because there's a pregnant pause before some ruffling tells her Alex is nodding her head against her phone.

"Yeah, she's good," and Alex sounds relieved and light and suddenly Eliza realizes maybe her daughter's tears weren't shed out of sadness, "I ran into her at the bar earlier tonight. We talked for a bit. It was… good."

She doesn't say anything else about it and Eliza finds that she almost misses hearing about whatever joke Maggie told her or a smart comment she made. Alex starts talking about an alien she arrested earlier in the week while Eliza wonders how her daughter went from incessantly babbling about Maggie three days ago to barely saying anything about her.

Alex doesn't say goodbye when she hangs up that night. She says " _I love you_ " in such a way that it pulls at Eliza's heartstrings. When she says it back, Alex exhales, and if she didn't know better, Eliza would say she almost sounded relieved.

 

 

 

Next time Eliza calls Alex is early in the morning. She's heading into work and she knows Alex is supposedly already at the DEO. She just needs to ask her if she'll be able to pick her up at the airport the day before Thanksgiving. Eliza hasn't heard from her daughter except for a few texts in the past week and she misses her voice.

So she calls from her car. Her commute is long enough that she might even be able to have a real conversation with Alex without being interrupted.

But Alex doesn't answer.

Instead, Kara's voice greets her and Eliza wonders if she accidentally called the wrong number, but a look at the screen tells her that, no, she called Alex's phone.

"Hello, darling, I wasn't expecting to hear your voice. Is Alex busy?"

"Uhm, yes," Kara's voice is hesitant and Eliza can immediately tell that whatever is about to come out of her daughter's mouth next is a complete lie, "I mean, sort of, she's sleeping."

Eliza scrunches up her nose in confusion and quickly checks the time. It's 11am in National City. Alex never sleeps in, except when she works until the early hours of the morning, but Eliza knows for a fact her daughter wasn't working last night.

( _can't talk tonight, about to meet maggie. call tomorrow?_ had been Alex's text last night.)

"Is everything okay?" she can't hide the concern in her voice, but her mind is jumping to the worst conclusions because Alex could've gotten into an accident, or been mugged, or--

"Yes, yes! She uhm… just, she caught a cold," Eliza's worry deepens because Kara is stuttering too much to be telling the truth.

"Kara," she uses her stern mom voice and she can practically feel Kara's wince.

"She's fine, really. I'm keeping an eye on her, promise!"

Eliza waits for a moment to see if Kara has anything else to say, but when she keeps quiet, she sighs and nods to herself.

She talks to Kara for a bit, asks her about her job, if she's been eating enough, sleeping enough and subtly (or so she thinks) tries to find out what's wrong with Alex because she really can't believe she has a cold. She knows Alex, knows that she rarely gets sick and, even when she does, that doesn't stop her from going to work, at least, until J'onn inevitably sends her home.

But Kara doesn't give anything away.

 

 

 

Alex calls her a few times after that, but Eliza feels like she's talking to the old Alex from weeks, almost months, ago when all she talked about was Supergirl and the DEO. She's focused on her work and Eliza doesn't understand what happened, what changed, until she suddenly realizes she hasn't mentioned Maggie in any of her phone calls.

No jokes about how bad Maggie is at pool, no case she's had to work on with the NCPD detective, completely nothing about Maggie, and after weeks of only hearing about her from Alex, she can't help but ask.

"How's Maggie?"

At the mention of Maggie's name, Eliza hears her daughter choke on whatever it is she was drinking. It takes Alex a moment to stop coughing.

"Yes, yeah, she's good, we're good, we're friends," and that has nothing to do with the question Eliza just asked, but it tells her so much because suddenly everything starts clicking into place.

The amount of time Alex spent with Maggie, how much happier she sounded every time they talked, like she had something new to be excited about in her life. The way she spoke about this woman, always praising her, impressed by her, in awe. The sudden shift a couple of weeks ago when Alex called her after she had been crying, and then just last week when she _'had a cold'_ and how out of it she had sounded since then.

Eliza can't believe it took her this long to realize.

She's at a loss of words suddenly. Not because she's surprised, or disappointed, she could never be disappointed in Alex, but because clearly, something happened between Alex and Maggie for them to almost lose their friendship. 

Alex says " _We're friends"_ like they weren't at some point and Eliza wants to know, wants to be there for Alex, but she knows her daughter and she _knows_ she'll come to her when she's ready.

"That's good, Alex. I'm really glad you have her as a friend," Is what she goes with. She gets a tired sigh from Alex in response and Eliza thinks that that's all she's going to get, but Alex surprises her.

"We had a… fight," she clears her throat, giving herself some time to find the right words, "I sort of started avoiding her a little bit. I mean, I was busy with work, you know?"

It's a flimsy excuse because Alex is always busy but she makes time for those who matter.

"Anyways, we had a small fallout, but she came by Kara's and uhm… we're playing pool tomorrow night."

Alex sounds sad. She's holding back tears, Eliza can tell by the shakiness in her voice, and it breaks her heart, makes her want to reach through and hug her daughter as tightly as humanly possible. That's all they say about Maggie, Alex suddenly starts talking about Thanksgiving plans and she tries to sound excited, but Eliza can tell her heart isn't in it.

Her heart, Eliza suspects, is being held by a certain detective.

  
  


 

They don't talk again until Thanksgiving.

Kara is the one who picks her up at the airport because Alex had some kind of emergency to take care of, so she's greeted by a very enthusiastic Kara. They hug for longer than necessary and then they make their way to the car, Kara catching her up on what had been happening in the past week.

She mostly talks about her job as Kara. She carefully avoids saying anything about the DEO or whatever adventures she went on as Supergirl.

Eliza suspects it's because she wouldn't like what those adventures entail.

Alex joins them later, still dressed in her DEO get up. She hugs her too, albeit not as enthusiastically as Kara but still, there's warmth and love there. They have dinner together and Eliza is so happy to have them both to herself before what's bound to be a crazy Thanksgiving feast the next day.

She's been a little more focused on Alex since she joined them, curious as to what is going on inside her daughter's head. She can tell Alex is not quite there with them. She nods and speaks at the right moments but she's distracted. Her eyes never stay focused on her sister or mother for long, she stares blankly at the wall for most of the evening.

Eliza knows Kara has noticed too if she's to believe the questioning glances she's been sending her sister's way the whole evening.

It gets worse the next day.

Everyone is there, Winn, James, Kara and Alex of course, with the exception of Mon-El, that new alien friend that both her daughters have mentioned a few times. Eliza is minding her own business in the kitchen when she hears loud whispering coming from behind her. A quick look over her shoulder and she sees Alex gesturing widely at Kara.

"Alex, you can't tell her, you're drunk."

"Pffft, no I'm not."

"That's your third beer, you've had enough," she hears Alex protest and figures Kara took the bottle of beer out of her hands.

"I'm still going to tell her."

_Tell her what?_

"Are you sure?"

There's a beat where Eliza thinks that maybe they've gone back to actually whispering and that she missed the answer. But then, Alex's voice is loud and clear.

"Yes."

And that's that. Kara doesn't say anything else and Eliza can hear her make her way over to her. They cook the turkey, Eliza pretends she doesn't see Alex steal Winn's beer and the whiskey bottle from Kara's fridge and makes conversation with Mon-El.

After her daughters' failed attempt at subtlety, Eliza isn't surprised to see a drunk Alex stand up at the dinner table and start rambling about being thankful for feeling like herself for the first time. Her voice is wobbly and she can see her eyes shine with unshed tears. She knows what's coming, or at least she thinks she does, but she doesn't get to find out because some sort of portal opens right in the middle of Alex's confession and everything gets messy after that.

The Alien Bar is attacked and she sees the way Alex's eyes bulge out when she hears the news, her hands almost dropping her phone as she reaches for it.

(She calls Maggie. Eliza doesn't eavesdrop.)

Mon-El gets infected by this kryptonian virus and they don't get a moment alone until they're waiting on tests results in the lab together. So Eliza approaches Alex. She doesn't want to push her, but she wants Alex to know that it's okay.

"So, what is it?"

Alex looks up from the computer screen "Uh, I've got the mainframe breaking down the virus on a molecular level," and Eliza is confused for a second before she clarifies.

"No, I mean… I know you've been trying to tell me something."

Alex looks taken aback before she starts denying it, looking at her mother and back at her computer screen. She gets up then, walks to another screen, probably thinking about making herself busy with something else.

And Eliza watches her and waits, sliding her finger over her tablet. She sees Alex's shoulder sag and "How?"

"Keeping a secret disagrees with you, sweetie."

"This isn't like that, mom."

Eliza can tell that this is not like anything Alex has experienced before, it's nothing like the secrets she has kept from her until now.

"Does it have anything to do with Maggie?" Eliza asks, carefully, "You mention her a lot."

The look Alex gets in her eyes tells her everything she needs to know. There's a vulnerability there, the same she heard on the phone all those weeks ago, and a lingering sadness, and maybe some surprise, too.

"Oh, my beautiful Alexandra, why, why is it so hard for you to tell me?"

"I feel like I'm…" Alex shrugs, "letting you down somehow."

She nods to herself like she knows that she's right, like she knows that Eliza is disappointed in some way, and all Eliza can do in return is shrug and shake her head in confusion.

"Why would you being gay ever let me down?"

Eliza says the word _gay_ and Alex doesn't deny it.

Instead she shrugs again, tells her about the regular life she thought her mother wanted for her and Eliza can't help but laugh a little because nothing about their family is _regular_ , nothing about Alex is regular because she's exceptional and she tells her as much.

"And I love you, however you are."

When they hug, Alex melts in her embrace and it feels like she's truly letting her guard down for the first time. She hears her sigh in relief and it only makes her hold on tighter.

  
  


 

They go through a hellish couple of days and Eliza wonders how her daughters do this on a daily basis, because the stress is unbearable. All's well that ends well, though, and Eliza breathes a little easier. They finish up late in the lab. Eliza is leaving in the morning, and as much as she wishes she could spend her last night in National City with her two daughters, she can see how tired Alex is. So they part with the promise to get breakfast together the next day.

But, of course, Alex has to cancel because she gets called by the DEO and so Eliza decides to swing by headquarters a few hours later in the hopes of catching both Kara and Alex before she has to leave without saying goodbye.

What she gets is much better.

Alex is sitting next to a woman, both staring at a computer screen showing what looks like street cameras footage. She can tell they're not focused, though, because the woman keeps poking Alex in the ribs while Alex pretends to look annoyed, when the truth is that she can't keep the smile off her face. She's completely relaxed, and Eliza can't remember when was the last time she saw Alex let her guard down completely around someone who wasn't Kara.

She has a good idea of who the woman might be if she's to believe the police jacket draped on the chair.

Maggie Sawyer.

Eliza slows down because clearly something has changed between the two women since the last time she'd heard about Maggie. She knows Maggie got shot and Alex was the one to patch her up but there's something else, a closeness and a warmth in Alex's eyes that was missing in the previous days.

She watches as her daughter faces Maggie, grabbing the finger still poking at her ribs, and inching closer to Maggie's face in an attempt at intimidation.

That backfires spectacularly when all Maggie does is smirk and raise an eyebrow and, oh, Eliza is going to have so much fun with this.

"Alex!"

She has to hold in her laughter when Alex literally _jumps_ away from Maggie, almost sending her chair stumbling down. She looks like a deer caught in headlights and Maggie confusedly looks from Alex to Eliza back to Alex.

"Mom!" Eliza doesn't miss the way Maggie's eyes widen, "Hey, what are you doing here?" She starts walking towards her and gives her a brief hug before looking back at Maggie, who is still sitting down but awkwardly smiling at them.

"I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye, so I thought that I'd stop by," She smiles innocently at Alex before looking over her shoulder and extending a hand to Maggie.

"Hi, I'm Eliza Danvers."

Maggie stands up and takes her hand in a strong grip.

"Maggie Sawyer. It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Danvers."

"It's Dr. Danvers, actually," she can't help but add, and it's so worth it if the muttered _"oh god"_ coming from Alex is anything to go by.

Maggie stiffly nods and lets go of her hand to start awkwardly waving it around.

"I should probably go, uhm…" she runs a hand through her hair and looks back to Alex, whose hand is covering her face, red with embarrassment. Eliza figures she's had enough fun for today.

"Oh no, please stay, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just wanted to say goodbye to Alex."

Maggie nods and sits back down again. Eliza smiles at her, tells her how nice it was to meet her again and takes Alex a little further away. Alex, for her part, doesn't take her eyes off of Maggie and Eliza has to clear her throat for her daughter to focus.

"It's nice to finally put a face to the name," she can't help but tease. Alex lets out a small incredulous laugh.

"Okay, it's not like I talk about her all the time."

Eliza challenges her with a look and Alex stares right back at her until she flatters a few seconds later.

"Yeah, okay, I get your point."

Eliza watches as Alex's eyes drift to Maggie again and the same warmth appears in her eyes and her smile. Her whole body is facing Maggie and it's like she's being pulled to her and Eliza smiles at the fact that her beautiful Alexandra is finally finding her own happiness.

She can't help but hug her tightly again because she's so proud, and happy, and so full of love. She can tell when Alex starts to get uncomfortable with the hugging, but Eliza doesn't want to let go just yet.

"I'll call you when I get home," she says as she unwraps her arms from around Alex, "you better pick up, young lady, we have a lot to talk about."

  
  


 

Eliza calls early one morning, a few days before Christmas. She's sitting at the kitchen counter, quietly sipping her coffee with her phone pressed to her ear.

Alex doesn't pick up.

Someone else does.

"Sawyer."

Eliza grins at the sleepy voice of the detective.

"Good morning, Maggie."

She can tell Maggie is confused because she's silent for a good minute. Eliza sits back to enjoy the sounds of confusion coming from her daughter's _girlfriend_.

(Alex hadn't officially introduced her as such but, _come on,_ Eliza wasn't blind.)

"Oh, this is Alex's phone."

It's not directed at her, it sounds more like Maggie is talking to herself and Eliza chuckles.

"Sorry if I woke you up, I just wanted to check on Alex."

She hears movement on the other side before Maggie speaks again.

"She's still sleeping, but I can wake her--"

"No, don't, please," she rushes, "we both know she doesn't get enough sleep."

It wasn't her intention to _insinuate_ anything, but she smirks all the same at Maggie's nervous laugh. She lets the silence settle between them and it's definitely awkward. Eliza almost feels bad for having this much fun at Maggie's expense.

"I'll let you go back to sleep. Could you tell Alex to call me later?"

"I will."

"Alright. Have a nice day, Maggie."

The detective thanks her and wishes her just the same. As she starts going through the motions of her day, she thinks that, yes, that had been a nice way to start her morning.

When Alex calls on her lunch break she tells her about the snow and the cold. Alex whines, says it's still sunny in National City and she hates it. She says it's not appropriate Christmas weather.

She says Maggie thinks the same.

Eliza has a feeling she's going to learn a lot more about this Maggie Sawyer.


End file.
